Protests continue over goof-up in Intermediate resultsin

Protestscontinued Monday over the alleged goof-up inthe declaration of results ofthe Intermediate examinations by members of different student organisations and political parties here even as the BJP Telangana unit president K Laxman began an indefinite fast.

The bungling led to the alleged suicides of 23 students since the declaration of results on April 18.

Hitting out at the TRS government, the BJP state chief Laxman began his fast seeking justice for the students.

The demands of the BJP include sacking of Education Minister G Jagadeesh Reddy, suspension of secretary of Board of Intermediate Education, judicial inquiry into the entire episode and compensation to families of students who allegedly committed suicide.

The exams were conducted during February and March this year and the results were declared on April 18.

Many students and parents have been protesting against the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) alleging goof-up in the paper valuation.

Demanding resignation of the Education Minister, the protesters, wanted him to take moral responsibility over the "fiasco" and made a vain bid to lay siege to the TSBIE office here and Pragathi Bhavan, official residence complex-cum-camp office of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Scores of protesters were taken into preventive custody by the police.

In the wake of "Chalo TSBIE" protest call given by Opposition parties, several leaders of the Congress, Telangana TDP, TJS were put under "house arrest" in different parts of the city and across the state, leaders of those parties said.

Police, who had stepped up security near the TSBIE office, foiled attempts by activists of Students' Federation of India, Progressive Democratic Students Union, Democratic Youth Federation of India, All India Democratic Students' Organisation and other student organisations to barge into the TSBIE office, and whisked away the protesters in police vehicles.

Similarly, scores of members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat and CPI were taken into preventive custody when they tried to hold demonstrations near Pragathi Bhavan.

The protesters raised slogans against the government and demanded resignation of the Education Minister and suspension of officials of TSBIE including its secretary A Ashok againstirregularitiesin the declaration of the results and demanded to 'blacklist' GlobarenaTechnologies, which was given the contract for data collection and processing of the results.

Some students claimed they had either failed or got poor marks though they had done well in exams.

Following allegations of bungling in the announcement of results, students, parents, students' organisations and political parties have been staging protests across the state over the past one week.

The three-member committee of technical experts, appointed by the Telangana government following the furore over Intermediate examination results, pointed out certain lapses and suggested various measures for improvement, officials said Saturday.